Arizona weekly citizen., 1887-09-03
LET US IRRIGATE.
Practical vsIue Of Irrigation Plainly
 illustrated by Facts and Figures.

The living springs send fourth the pur- mo floods. his seeds will germinate, his orons crow and his hsrvests ripen. Where irrigation is possible, agriculture ia taken ont of the field or chance, and theneeforth it. results follow fixed and immutable laws. With irrigation the agriculturist can bank upon it's crops. a thing impossible to him who depends nnon the treacherOus clouds to bring inc moisture that IS 70 perfect his har- vest. With irrigation hot and arid Egypt became the synonym of plenty Irrigation has made Belgium the most productive country c. Europe. and has transformed China and Japan into great gardens that furnish food for the most dense pupulations on earth. With Irri- gatlon the desert is made, literally, "to blossom 6s the rcse.
 Note the wonderful progress made by our nsiehbors, California and Colorado, whose lately sun burned nesas and plains were given up to the sage the cactus and mesquite; but, which under the ylyifying influence of Irrigation, are nos covered with fields Of corn, of wheat. of all the cereals and vegetables, Of all the fruits and flowers This tEsnsfor- nation, wonderful and magical as 1t has been. can end will be reproduced in Arizona and New Mexico.
 VAST AREA.
 We have n total area of 122, AGO square miles of territory, Of which 7o,3I4,4GO acres are subject to entry. With thIs vast empire. greater shan all ot the New EDylRnd states cOmbiDed,E we are 10 carve out our destiny as stRte, and It will he grand destiny when ouE arid llanoS and mesas shall he irrigated.
 THE WATER SUPPLY.
 "But where shall we get water!' ssys the optimist. Beyond the valley Of tho Rio Grande and the narrow valleys Of H few streams. there Is scRnt water for the tiocks and herds which now wander over them" To such We answer, the raln- fall of New Mexico is amply sufficient, when 1t shsfi have been stored, to iTrl- gate every tlllable acre of land within her boundsries. In hundreds of our caflons are living streams, which sink be- tore they reach the level plains, whose waters may be utilized. GO tO the Gran Ouivera, to the plains of western Bsrna- lilo and Rio Arribs cOunties-eveE to the rugged mouutsia slopes about the ;hermsl springs at Jemes-Ro anywhere in New Mexico and view the ruins oi once populous towns snd cities. The people who built those towns and cities had abundant water for irrigation, as is proven by the ruins of scequiss and ca nals at various points in the territory. See what California has done and what Arizona IS doing. snd then never say n.s Nav-- Mawann do uz rmmeh There IS water enough comes down Bear, rijeras, Coyote, Hell and Los Moys canons to irrigste every foot of the mesa east and south of this city. To show the practibility of the storage system for supplying vast tracts of arid land. refer ence may be had to the work of the Wal nut Grove Water Storage company ID our sister terrItOry of Arizona. The HssssyRmpa, a comparatively small mountain stream, has been damned at point near the confluence of three of it's tributaries The dem was commenced in June, 1886, and Is now practically completed; its walls ct the bottom are eighty feet ID length across the canon. widening as the banks recedes, until at the top the structure is 400 ID length. the height being ll0 feet. To resis' the pressure of the immense weight c- water that will lie above 1t, the dam l. l30 feet thick at its base, narrowing e: true angeles angles. until at the top i' IS but ten feet in thickness The coz
 struc.ion IS reported to be done in tbe pest possible manner; the face wslls beginning at twelve feet in thickness. constructed Of immense rock carefully laid in cement, are carried up until they meet gt the Top and narrow down until the ten foot thickness st the sun
 init is reached. The span between thesv face walls Is filled with smaller rock, sud each face Is covered with "A frame work oi solid timbers, eight meters square, ;o which is spiked solid face of timbers. closely jointed, 2zS inches; over th;s Is placed 0 covering of waterproof asDhsl- tum felt; and again. above this another covering of 2GS timbers csiked as tight ly ss the hull of A ship.
 When completed it IS estimated that this dam will store l5 ,0O0. 600 OO igallOns of water, forming lake two miles long up one continent, one-fourih of mile up another. and three-fourths of 6 mile up third continent to the Hsssayamps. A lake half mile wide Rs its widest point and containing $50 acres of water "a thus formed. What the Walnut Grove
 Water storage company has done Tor Yavspsi county. Arizona, some other company can do for our county. probably not on so greHt c scale st any one point, but the same coat, the same -kill and the same energy 70 direct, will furnish by means of several dams an equivalent amount O; water.
 Instances might be multiplied from other localities of the prac,icability of storage by means of dams and nc tursl | reservoirs. but 1t ia deemed unnecessary. as theIr value is self-evident
 CHEAP WATER sToTAGE-
 Other and cheaper means oi storage